Everything about Faneuil Hall totally explained
Faneuil Hall (previously /ˈfʌnl̩/), located near the waterfront and today's
Government Center, in
Boston,
Massachusetts, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since
1742. It was the site of several speeches by
Samuel Adams,
James Otis, and others encouraging independence from
Great Britain, and is now part of
Boston National Historical Park and a well known stop on the
Freedom Trail. It is sometimes referred to as "the Cradle of Liberty".
History
The original Faneuil Hall was built by artist
John Smibert in 1740–1742 in the style of an English country market, with an open ground floor and an assembly room above, and funded by a wealthy Boston merchant,
Peter Faneuil. The ground floor was originally used to house African sheep brought over from the northwestern region of New Hampshire. The program was short lived however, due to a shortage of sheep and reasoning behind the program in the first place.
The grasshopper
weathervane is a well known symbol of Boston; see the section "
Grasshopper Weathervane", below. Knowledge of the grasshopper was used as a test to determine if people were spies during the Revolution period. The people would ask suspected spies the identity of the object on the top of Faneuil Hall; if they answered correctly then they were free; if not, they were convicted as British spies.
The hall burned down in 1761, but was rebuilt in 1762. In 1806, the hall was greatly expanded by
Charles Bulfinch, doubling its height and width and adding a third floor. Four new bays were added, to make seven in all; the open
arcades were enclosed; and the
cupola was moved to the opposite end of the building. Bulfinch applied
Doric brick
pilasters to the lower two floors, with
Ionic pilasters on the third floor. This renovation added galleries around the assembly hall and increased its height. The building was entirely rebuilt in 1898–1899, of noncombustible materials. The ground floor and basement were altered in 1979. The Hall was restored again in 1992. The building is a
National Historic Landmark and is on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Fanueil Hall is now part of a larger
festival marketplace,
Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which includes three long granite buildings called North Market,
Quincy Market, and South Market, and which now operates as an outdoor–indoor mall and food eatery. It was managed by
The Rouse Company; its success in the late 1970s led to the emergence of similar marketplaces in other U.S. cities.
On
November 3,
2004, Faneuil Hall was the site of
Senator John Kerry's concession speech in the
2004 presidential election.
Faneuil Hall is also the headquarters of the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts founded 1638.
Though
Faneuil is a French name, it's pronounced ['fæn.əl] or ['fænˌ.jəl] rather than [fa.nøj]. Native Bostonians generally pronounce it to rhyme with
panel,
manual, or
Daniel. There is some evidence that it was pronounced quite differently in Colonial times, as in
funnel. Peter Faneuil's gravestone is marked "P. Funel", although the inscription was added long after his burial. The stone originally displayed only the Faneuil family crest, not his surname.
The bell was repaired in 2007 by spraying the frozen clapper with
WD-40 over the course of a week and attaching a rope. The last known ringing of the bell with its clapper was at the end of
World War II, in 1945; it has since been rung several times by striking with a mallet.
In 2008, Faneuil Hall was rated number 4 in America's 25 Most Visited Tourist Sites by Forbes Traveler.
Grasshopper Weathervane
The gilded grasshopper
weathervane on top of the building was created by
silversmith Shem Drowne in
1742 and was modeled on the grasshopper weathervane on the London
Royal Exchange, thus associating the new building in the New World with a great center of finance of the Old World. As strange as it seems, the weathervane was first, accidentally, brought and placed atop the
Wren Building at the
College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. After 3 months, designers realized that they'd actually ordered a butterfly weathervane which was mistakenly shipped to Charlestown, SC. Six weeks later order was restored as Faneuil Hall received its grasshopper, William and Mary got its butterfly and
Charlestown Town Hall was left with no weathervane at all.
The weathervane has a total weight of thirty-eight pounds and is fifty-two inches long. Made of solid copper covered with gold leaf, it has glass eyes which are said to have begun life as door-knobs.
The origin of the grasshopper comes from the family crest of
Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange in
1565.
External link
Gallery
Image:Faneuil Hall.JPG|Faneuil Hall & Durgin Park, Boston MA
Image:Faneuil Hall - Great Hall - Rostrum.jpg|The rostrum in the Great Hall, Faneuil Hall, Boston MA
Image:Faneuil Hall - Great Hall - Balcony.JPG|The Balcony in the Great Hall, Faneuil Hall, Boston MA
Image:Faneuil Hall - Great Hall.JPG|View from the back of the Great Hall, Faneuil Hall, Boston MA
Further Information
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